5 toughest/easiest 2008 schedules

[Bossman641]

The Pats also play the AFC West which has three of the worst teams in football in addition to San Diego.

Yes, this is true as well. The Broncos should be a little better this year, but I'm not expecting much from the Chiefs (rebuilding) or Raiders (suck).

[swede]

2 games outside the set schedule. Those 2 games, you play 1 home and 1 away game against teams with a similar record to yours from the previous season.

Everything else has been pretty much predetermined. Only thing to determine is the date and which games are home or away. This whole tough schedule thing is ridiculous. Its very 1999.

QFT

The only story here is that some good teams have the advantage of playing in weak divisions, and differences in strength of schedule are a consequence of that and the prearranged scheduling criteria. No conspiracy here folks.

The Pack will just have to cowboy up and beat good teams, like Dallas and Indy, when the time comes.

[Patler]

What does it matter? I couldn't care less who NE or any AFC team plays. I barely care who any other NFC team plays. All that really matters is winning the NFC North. The Packers have proven that home field in the playoffs means little to them anymore.

The way I look at the schedule:

The Packers play Dallas and Seattle.
The Bears play Philadelphia and St. Louis.
The Vikings play Arizona and the NY Giants.
The Lions play San Francisco and Washington.

Otherwise the schedules are the same, except for home and away schedules against common opponents. Win the games in the Division, do at least as well as the Bears, Vikings and Lions against the common opponents and the Packers should win the division.

The only real objective is to get into the playoffs, and the schedule has little to do with that because in your division the schedules are not much different. If the division comes down to the Packers and Vikings, there is not much difference between Dallas and NYG, so the schedule difference comes down to Seattle and Arizona.

[BF4MVP]

I've stopped buying into the "tough schedule" crap...

We don't know how good the Packers are going to be and we don't know how good those teams they play are going to be..Everyone (except me, but I'm always optimistic ) thought last year's schedule would be impossible and look how that turned out..

[MadScientist]

The only real objective is to get into the playoffs, and the schedule has little to do with that because in your division the schedules are not much different. If the division comes down to the Packers and Vikings, there is not much difference between Dallas and NYG, so the schedule difference comes down to Seattle and Arizona.

It also affects the odds of getting a first round bye / HFA. On paper that schedule looks set up to give the Pats the HFA, but they didn't have any problem last year when they were up against tougher AFC and NFC divisions.

[Patler]

The only real objective is to get into the playoffs, and the schedule has little to do with that because in your division the schedules are not much different. If the division comes down to the Packers and Vikings, there is not much difference between Dallas and NYG, so the schedule difference comes down to Seattle and Arizona.

It also affects the odds of getting a first round bye / HFA. On paper that schedule looks set up to give the Pats the HFA, but they didn't have any problem last year when they were up against tougher AFC and NFC divisions.

As I wrote in my original post, home field advantage has seemingly meant little to the Packers in recent years, so I don't worry too much about it. It seems to be less and less significant generally. Besides, home field advantage is important only with respect to your own conference, so why should Packer fans care if NE has home field advantage through the playoffs?

If you win your division, which should be the immediate goal, your chances of a bye are 2/4 anyway. Lucky bounces during the year will probably have more of an impact on that than the schedule played.

As others have mentioned, it is surprising how many games that in May look to be tough ones turn out to be less than expected, and vice versa.

[Gunakor]

The only real objective is to get into the playoffs, and the schedule has little to do with that because in your division the schedules are not much different. If the division comes down to the Packers and Vikings, there is not much difference between Dallas and NYG, so the schedule difference comes down to Seattle and Arizona.

It also affects the odds of getting a first round bye / HFA. On paper that schedule looks set up to give the Pats the HFA, but they didn't have any problem last year when they were up against tougher AFC and NFC divisions.

Yeah, but the Packers play better on the road nowadays than they do at home. So HFA doesn't matter a whole lot. In any case, don't worry about the Patriots. Green Bay would not play New England until the Super Bowl should they meet at all. Whether or not the Pats get HFA in the AFC has no bearing whatsoever on the Packers playoff seeding. And I'll say it now like I did in January, I actually HOPE that the Pats make the Super Bowl so they can lose to another inferior NFC opponent and make themselves look silly on the biggest stage in sports.

[Guiness]

As I wrote in my original post, home field advantage has seemingly meant little to the Packers in recent years, so I don't worry too much about it.

So true

Hard to believe how short a time ago that we were considered almost un-defeatable at home. Sure, we're as tough as any other top team's home field, but no more so, it seems.

As others have mentioned, it is surprising how many games that in May look to be tough ones turn out to be less than expected, and vice versa.

True...to a point. But without looking, I'm betting that more than half the teams that made the playoffs in '06 went there again in '07. Top teams are up there year after year. If you ask me now if Pittsburgh or Arizona is going to be an easier opponent in 2012, I'm taking Arizona. Every year there are a couple of surprises in each direction, but that's just it - they're surprises.

[Joemailman]

In 2007 there were 13 teams whose win total from 2006 changed by 4 or more games (a considerable change, in my opinion) either up or down. Here's the list:

NE +4
BUF --
NYJ -6
MIA -5
PIT +2
CLE +6
CIN -1
BAL -8
IND +1
JAC +3
TEN +2
HOU +2
SD -3
DEN -2
OAK +2
KC -5
DAL +4
NYG +2
WAS +4
PHI -2
GB +5
MIN +2
CHI -6
DET +4
TB +5
NO -3
CAR -1
ATL -3
SEA +1
ARI +3
SF -2
STL -5

[b bulldog]

In todays NFL, the thing that really matters is when you are playing your opponent, not what they did last season or how they should do this season. The Chargers and the second Giants game from this past season is a great example of this.

[MJZiggy]

What does it matter? I couldn't care less who NE or any AFC team plays. I barely care who any other NFC team plays. All that really matters is winning the NFC North. The Packers have proven that home field in the playoffs means little to them anymore.

The way I look at the schedule:

The Packers play Dallas and Seattle.
The Bears play Philadelphia and St. Louis.
The Vikings play Arizona and the NY Giants.
The Lions play San Francisco and Washington.

Otherwise the schedules are the same, except for home and away schedules against common opponents. Win the games in the Division, do at least as well as the Bears, Vikings and Lions against the common opponents and the Packers should win the division.

The only real objective is to get into the playoffs, and the schedule has little to do with that because in your division the schedules are not much different. If the division comes down to the Packers and Vikings, there is not much difference between Dallas and NYG, so the schedule difference comes down to Seattle and Arizona.

Well Seattle is MUCH tougher than Arizona!! :P

[Patler]

Well Seattle is MUCH tougher than Arizona!! :P

But Seattle has a lame-duck, has-been for a coach!

[3irty1]

I'm of the opinion that it doesn't matter much who you play, it matters much more where you play. Playing on the road for a few weeks in a row can make a team look flat. Although the Packers and Giants had amazing years on the road. For teams to get crazy better over the course of a year it takes staying healthy and young players stepping up and blossoming. Or of course a monster weapon like Randy Moss. But the Packers are still the youngest team and therefore should have the roster that improves the most over the course of the season. Last year lots of guys stepped up for us to get a special season. Look for that again.

As for the queens.... McCarthy is a convincing 4 - 0 against Childress. Barring the crazy stuff like injuries and god awful luck I expect for our domination over the Vikings to continue.

On the other side. I'm going to flip out if we lose to the Bears at home again this year!!!!